Baby dolls play a crucial role in the early developmental learning and identity of young girls, particularly by illustrating societal expectations regarding family roles (Almeida, 2018). When children play with dolls, they often mimic their mother's actions or behaviors observed in other caregivers, such as feeding, dressing, and putting the doll to sleep (Zeteroğlu, 2019; Almeida, 2018). This imitation of adult caregiving tasks, despite being very young, can reinforce traditional roles assigned to females in girlhood (Zeteroğlu, 2019).
Baby dolls are more than just reinforcing maternal roles - they actively contribute to the development of social skills, empathy, responsibility, and identity through role-playing behaviors (Zeteroğlu, 2019). Thus, baby doll play offers developmental benefits for girls, beyond nurturing skills, such as enhanced language development, problem-solving skills, and the promotion of creativity and imagination (Zeteroğlu, 2018). Doll play provides a structured and safe play for children to express their emotions.
When mothers participate in doll play with their daughters, they often communicate family values and expectations regarding roles within the family dynamic. This sheds light on how maternal roles are perceived, internalized, and can reflect broader societal norms and expectations surrounding caregiving responsibilities. However, it is striking whether baby dolls, with their features (crying, speaking, peeing) potentially limit free imaginative play by guiding children towards predefined scenarios of caregiving, instead of allowing them to interpret and understand family and gender roles (Almeida, 2018).
A video of a girl pretending babysitting, demonstrating baby dolls predefined scenarios of caregiving. Source: Toys and Colors on Youtube, 2019